Class Notes

Class Notes for 1950

Jean Chickering Nardozzi lives in Hobe Sound, Fla., in the winter and Pembroke, N.H., during the summer. Her eldest grandson, Rob, has his own business and employs 10 men to install carpet/tiles in shopping centers, college, and public buildings. Sarah is a teacher and missionary in Honduras, and Kristen is an ice-dance skater. Jean has a year-old great-grand baby, Rob’s first child. Since retiring, Jean has developed and written Bible studies and led groups in Fla. and N.H. She began a healing prayer ministry in her N.H. church, which is still operating. “I remember Pop Newman’s words, ‘Read the Bible, it will change your life.’” Jean paints in oils and watercolors and enjoys doing portraits. She used to go to Europe, but traveling between Fla. and N.H. is enough! She loves golf and plays regularly. * Charlotte Shoul Backman and her husband live in a retirement community in Dedham, Mass. They recently celebrated their 60th anniversary. Their two living children, Larry and Ellen, each have two children, three of whom are through college and the youngest in high school. Their third child, Joan, died in an accident at 24. Charlotte enjoys relearning bridge after 58 years. She loves to walk, bird watch, and swim and has become a Friday afternoon symphony lady! She’s been a fundraiser in the Boston Jewish community and is a pen pal for the Dedham public schools. Other activities include book club and more than 40 years taking college courses at B.C. in history and English, courses missed at college because of a biochemistry major. Charlotte has had some problems with her neck, back, arm, and shoulder, the latter due to competitive tennis. They have done Elderhostels to Gettysburg and “best of all, Tanglewood.” She wrote, “I hope you are all well and can laugh as much as I do. We’re all getting to be really old. I intend and strive to be 98, sharp and active.” * Jerold Wilbur lives in Ocklawaha, Fla. He was married for 57 years to Lauris, who is deceased. He has two daughters and two granddaughters. He is retired and spends time reading, horseback riding, walking, and watching baseball and football. He is a hospital volunteer in Ocala. Jerold and a friend drove to Calif. in an old R.V. and spent two months there. * Mary Anne “Ma” Seward Crafts is dealing with the loss of her husband, Redd, last December after almost 58 years of marriage. They didn’t have children, but she is fortunate to have a sister living close by. She and Redd loved travel and spent many vacations hiking and backpacking. After retirement they moved to Penn. and did “expedition cruising” in ships that never had more than 150 passengers. Recently Ma and her sister traveled to Greece and Turkey on Sea Cloud, a four-masted sailing barque built in 1931 by Marjorie Merriwether Post and E.F. Hutton. She wants to continue these trips as long as possible and was headed to Norway, Greenland, and various Arctic islands. When at home she works in the yard, volunteers at the local conservation organization, attends musical events at Penn State, and tries “to keep from slacking on exercise.” * Frank Jones’s wife died in 2010. He lives at Hunt Retirement Community in Nashua, N.H. He had a hip implant in June and hopes to return to golfing. * Barbara Starr Wolf is in Mass. May-October and Argentina November-April. Her oldest grandchild is at Bates. Through the Little Brothers, Little Sisters organization, she reads in Spanish to a “shut-in.” Barbara is retired and keeps busy with gardening, a book club, and travel. She has traveled to Argentina, to see the Perito Moreno glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park and took a cruise in southern Chile to see the fiords and the receding glacier of Laguna San Rafael.